Mice!!!!!!!!

[Billy H]

Came in to the tack room today and found mice had made a home on a saddle seat. (WHAT A MESS!!!)

Do any of you folks have suggestions on the best way to get mouse urine/poop stain out of leather?

Thanks  Billy

[Goldshot Ron]

Billy,

I've had saddles come into the shop for repairs with stains on the seat.  I've tried a solution of: 1 part ammonia, a skirt of Ivory liquid soap, and 3 parts water; it works well on oily dirt and did a little on the mouse poop, but didn't get everything out.  I even tried an oxalic acid solution without real success.  In this last case, I ended up dying the seat and oiling it to cover up the stain.  It looked okay, but I still knew what the stain was.

If you come up with something, let us all know.

Ron

[Billy H]

Thanks Ron

I will do some research, and see what I can find. Thank you for your response.    Billy

Edited October 1, 2016 by Billy H

[Billy H]

Ron,

I found this in the archive threads of this forum.

 

" Bickmoore suede and Nubuck cleaner " might be worth a shot!  Billy

[keplerts]

Is it a suede seat?  If so, try taking some lite sandpaper to it.

Tom

[Billy H]

Hi Tom, 

The mice actually got to 2 saddles one is a Roughout seat and the other is a Smoothe seat.

I live in Colorado and have never seen so many mice. I blame myself for not covering these two saddles like I do my others. Lots of home remadies out there, and a few actual products made for this nasty stuff. Big thing is I don't want to make it look worse than all ready is. Thanks for the reply. Billy

[JHayek]

Had a packrat get in the tack room last spring and he chewed the saddle strings off one saddle and nibbled around the edges of the back cinch and a few other places. 2 cats and all the saddles are covered and still...

Bickmore suede cleaner works real well for most stains followed up by using a wire brush to rough up the nap after it dries. ( on suede seats of course). Bick 1cleaner works well on smooth lesther for most stains as well. Nothing is foolproof of course but it's a safe place to start. Unfortunately urine stains can be difficult to remove.

[keplerts]

Here are some before and after pictures of a suede seat I restored after being worn smooth and chewed by a mouse.  Sand paper and soft brass brush and kiwi suede cleaner cleaned it up nicely.

[Billy H]

Thank you, JHayek and Tom !  You both do some nice work!I. 

I will keep you posted. The Roughout saddle I think will clean up pretty well, but the Grainside-out saddle is pretty nasty.

May end up making a new Rear housing and then doing a dye job. I have a big Dually truck and yesterday day found that mice made a nest in the defrost motor! Like I said mice are as bad as I can remember. Need more cats!!!

Thank you Billy

[CaptQuirk]

I was listening to Car Talk, a radio help show. A woman called in, and asked them why it was that every time she turned on the A/C, dog kibbles would come out of the vents. The car guys deduced that she was leaving the dog food in the garage. Mice were grabbing the food, and tucking it away for safe keeping in the squirrel cage fan of her cars A/C system. They suggested keeping the food in a bucket with a secure lid. Solves one problem, but not the other.

What has this to do with the post? Ya have to get rid of the mice. Cats, do ok, but are mostly useless... and a little evil and creepy. Get all the food cleaned up and stored securely. Clean up any uneaten bits of food. Set traps. Get some snakes, they can go into tiny spaces after mice, that cats can't.

And somewhere, people are shuddering and screaming at the thought of snakes

[JHayek]

Cats are pretty useless but snakes sleep all winter

[Troy I]

Traps...Traps...and more Traps + some poison thrown in for good measure...oh yeah...some glue traps too.

Hate snakes, but they do good too, except when they get into the car and come out when your driving down the road...

[catskin]

I know this is a really old thread but this is still on topic for mice.  If you could attract a few weasels or turn loose a ferret or 2 mice would be gone shortly and stay gone.

[Sheilajeanne]

i had a real problem with mice when I ran a kennel. I couldn't use poison, because if a poisoned mouse was caught by a dog, it could be deadly. Snap traps worked pretty well. Electric traps worked even better, and were necessary when a couple of rats moved in!!

I hate glue traps. There are inhumane. 

When the mice moved into the house, I caught 12 mice in one month. Then I got a cat. The only mice I saw after that were dangling from his jaws... 

But yes, ALL food must be secured in rodent-proof bins!

[jimi]

On 10/4/2016 at 2:25 AM, keplerts said:

Here are some before and after pictures of a suede seat I restored after being worn smooth and chewed by a mouse.  Sand paper and soft brass brush and kiwi suede cleaner cleaned it up nicely.

That was an excellent restoration job, well done. Did you patch the hole up and sand it in to look the same?? 

[keplerts]

2 hours ago, jimi said:

That was an excellent restoration job, well done. Did you patch the hole up and sand it in to look the same?? 

Yes, I patched it with "Magic Mender".  It is the stuff they use to patch upholstery that has a tear in a car seat.  Then I put adhesive on and sanded the suede with a dremel to make leather dust.  It worked well but I told the customer the suede would probably rub off.  Haven't heard anything bad about it from them.  So, I'm assuming it is all good!